Page 77 of Night of the Living Manny
She pushed right up, fearless as hell, and shoved the creature, hard.
It clawed at her, bending double over the fence. She screamed, the sound one of pure fury, and a second later, a shotgun blast went off, leaving his ears ringing. “You stay away from my sister!” Peter shouted.
Brenden yanked Moose around. “Moose. Inside. Go!”
Moose wheeled, dragging Britt with him to the house.
He glanced at Peter. “Back to the patio. Cover the back door.”
Peter nodded, so Brenden went to get Susanna, who was clinging to the fence and looking at the dead thing.
“We have to get inside.”
“Go away.”
“No. Come on. Inside. I need to get you to the basement.” He could see the gaping wound on her arm, and his stomach churned, but he wasn’t giving up on her. Period.
“Go inside! Listen to me! You go inside and take care of them!” Brave, terrified girl—he’d never been more proud of her, and that was saying something.
“I have your dad’s antidote in the basement, Susanna. It worked on the sample I had. Please, please trust me.” God, this was the hardest thing ever. Ever. “I’ll lock you in the basement.”
“You promise to shoot me before I become like that? You swear to God?”
“I swear to God.” He had four doses of the drug. They could find Liam before the infection progressed beyond that, he was sure. He forced down his bile. “We have to get inside, just in case.”
If no others showed themselves, he would do something with that body there after he dosed Susanna. They couldn’t afford for it to draw others, or animals.
“We have to burn the body.”
“I will. I want to give you a dose first. I need gloves and supplies.” He needed to look Britt and Moose over and lock them all in. “Now, Susanna. I don’t have time to argue with you.”
Start out like he could hold out, right?
She nodded, holding her arm and limping toward the back door.
Peter stared at them, pale and wide-eyed. “Susanna?”
“Stay away from me.”
“I’m sorry. I tried to….”
“You did good. Go inside. I’m going down to the cellar. Take care of Britt.”
“Don’t let anyone out, Peter. Get the security screen locked over the patio door.” He would see what the hell was wrong with the alert system after he got Susanna settled.
“Don’t get too close to me.”
“Stop it. I have to staunch the bleeding.”
She shook her head. “Just give me towels.”
“Susanna, I have extensive first aid training. I know what I’m doing.” They got down to the cellar, and he indicated where she should sit. There was a panic room, so he put her in there on the bed before moving to put on gloves and a mask.
She was holding her shit together, just barely, her face pale as milk.
“I got you.” He smiled for her, his heart just pounding still. “Let’s clean up the wound. Tell me if you feel feverish or tight, like your skin isn’t big enough.” This thing had to germinate, even if it was fast. He had some time.
“Yeah. Daddy’s going to be so mad at me.”
